Rural Revitalization

Education

After decades of neglect, we must elect a representative who will champion rural issues. While timber has been in decline for decades, our forests have become disasters waiting to happen; combined with drought, we face catastrophic fire conditions. Our forests are full of fuel; wood and brush that represent either a disaster, or economic potential.

Biomass; imagine building clean energy producing Biomass plants throughout our region. People to build them, run them, and clean-up our forests to fuel them. These are all good paying jobs; with the added bonus of energy independence for many of our rural communities. Sustainability, communities creating jobs for their citizens, providing energy to those same citizens, while greatly reducing the fire danger we currently face each and every summer.

Water storage; projects like Sites Reservoir that are shovel ready and represent a minimal environmental impact. These long overdue storage projects would create thousands of living wage jobs; they would add water for our farmers and communities, reducing drought conditions.

We must recognize the effects of global climate change; our weather is changing and we need to be proactive in preparing for both extended droughts as well as the possibility of severe flooding. The other step I would take as your representative would be tax breaks and investment incentives for small business development and entrepreneural start-ups.

We need our money to stay locally; service sector jobs by most big corporations do not provide anything other than sales tax revenue. While important, we cannot sustain our local cities on minimum wage retail or service sector jobs. We need partners that are invested in our communities; we can accomplish this through the use of tax incentivation. Together, we can rebuild our rural economy and make our cities sustainable and a place where our children can live and work.

Our rual towns and cities face difficult choices when it comes to education; funding is problamatic when you live in areas where children must travel 50 or more miles one-way to get to school. Transportation is expensive and it cuts into funding that could be used for educating our children. We need someone in Sacramento who understands rural educational issues.

The time for a CSU or Cal-State in Redding has come; Redding is the center of the northstate, the economic hub if you will. With Shasta, Trinity, Siskiyou, Lassen, Tehama, And Modoc counties to draw from, we have six counites that need a centrally located public institution of higher education.

With "green energy" like solar, a university that does research in solar development in the 2nd sunniest region in America makes sense. With water, forest, and other environmental issues taking the national stage, Redding is an ideal location for California's next public institution of higher education. This would not only provide an economic boom for the region, it would enable thousands of area kids to receive their education close to home.

I honestly believe with all of my heart that most of us are tired of the way our government operates; while there are wonderful people in government, government itself is often broken. Why? Because nationally, those at the top benefit if nothing changes. Government exists as an extension of the people, we must ensure that our voice is being heard.

In Sacramento, we see urban benefit, while rural regions are left lagging behind. We can blame the southern legislators, but the truth is that the blame lies with ourselves. We elect representatives who do nothing but vote the party line. Well folks, the party line is not working for us in rural California. We can elect a representative who will work with our legislature and find reasonable solutions to our problems and issues.

As long as we have endured this suffering, as bleak as it looks, there is a better tomorrow; please join me, vote for me and send Sacramento a message. Rural District 1 has a strong, unrelenting new voice, and we will be heard. I promise you only one thing; I will put this district first, we have been left out of the conversation long enough.

My one hope is that the electorate realizes that what they have been doing simply has not worked for our district. The simple truth is that if Senate District 1 had effective representation, we would not be faced with these issues.

Many believe that places like Los Angeles and San Francisco get all of the attention because they have more people representing them. While there is a degree of truth to that, the fact is that each Senate district is roughly 1 million people. Our issue is that our district is made up of a large geographical area due to sparsely populated cities and towns in rural northern California. However, one effective and unrelenting voice can accomplish much. Instead of simply voting party line, I promise to do what is best for all of the people of this district.

The Democratic Party is my party of registration. I believe in the working class, individual freedoms, equality, and that everyone should have the opportuniy to achieve their dreams. When it comes to being a steward of your tax dollars, I am as conservative as they come. Your money should be spent wisely and with benefit to you, the tax payer. Education is a public benefit; police and fire are a public benefit; roads, sewers, and fresh clean water are a public benefit; and helping those in need is a public benefit.

I believe in a hand up, not a hand out; we must ensure that those in need are getting the help they need. However, government cannot be all things to all people; the partnership of opportunity and help means that those receiving help must do their part as well.

To ensure that all of our citizens have the opportunity to realize their dreams, we must address the issue of income inequality; Americans should be concerned that so much of our collective national wealth is in the hands of so few. One family should not have more wealth than the bottom 50% of our entire population. These wealthy people would still be insanely wealthy while providing living wages to those who make them wealthy to begin with; this is a partnership in America.

Meet Rob

Rob Rowen for Senate

I have lived in rural California my entire life. I was born in Eureka, grew-up in Weaverville, and attended Community College in Redding. I was drafted by the L.A. Dodgers in 1982, playing with them until 1987, when I was traded to the Chicago Cubs, where I was forced to give up my dream due to injuries in the spring of 1988.

After baseball I enlisted in the U.S. Army; after my military service I spent a short time in Pismo Beach, CA. before returning to Redding in Decembeer of 1994. When I returned to Redding I went to work for Allied Van Lines as an independent owner/operator; in 1997 I suffered a serious back injury. After numerous surgeries, I was forced to retire from the work force.

I have a Bachelor's Degree in Social Science, I am married to a wonderful woman, Nikki, and between us we have 5 children and 3 grandchildren. I have been the Chair of the Democratic Central Committee of Shasta County the past 2 years, and I have been our representative to the state executive board the past 4 years; serving on both the platform committee and credentials committee with the state party.

I believe government works best when it governs near the center. We have a diverse population and we must attempt to include everyone if things are going to function properly. Divisive party politics has crippled our national government; the working class can no longer afford to allow ourselves to be divided by social issues, while nothing else is accomplished.

I decided to enter this race because I agree with those in rural California who believe we are not receiving representation in Sacramento. While some believe that we need to form a new state, I believe that the answer lies with electing someone who will champion our rural issues. Instead of electing "rubberstamp" party politicians, we need to send a citizen to Sacramento to champion our cause. Being a pragmatic moderate, I believe I am exactly what this district needs; someone who is beholden only to the people of this district.

Our rural district is faced with many daunting challanges. We have higher than average unemployment, lower than average median incomes, homelessness and poverty issues, and our seniors and veterans are vulnurable due to a constant lack of funding for essential services.

The legacy of this district must not be that our children are our biggest export. We must elect a representative who will work with Sacramento to find pragmatic solutions to address the years of neglect we have endured in rural California.

Now is the time to put party politics aside. We need a voice in Sacramento that will fight for our issues. My entire life I have achieved things that people told me were simply not possible; from being a professional baseball player from a town of 2,500 people, to walking without the aid of a cane or walker. As a lifelong rural resident, I understand the need for legislation that does not inhibit rural regions; one size fits all policies are not always practical or needed.

The working class who have supported the GOP in the past, I challange all of you to wake-up before it is too late. Your wages, benefits, and retirement are all under seige. Today, the GOP represents only one class, the monied class. Seniors, your healthcare and benefits, things you earned, are being weakend and threatened everyday. Veterans, the GOP talks a good game, but the truth is in their voting record. They continue to cut funding in order to give tax breaks to corporate America and the billionaire class. Small business owners and enterpreneurs, you have been taxed more, so corporations can enjoy zero tax liability.

I believe our future lies in building a stronger middle class, this includes strengthening labor. America was built by labor; living wage jobs, benefits, retirement, all exist today due to those who fought before us for a fair shake in this nation. Only together can we take back that which we have given away. We have been mislead, lied to, and manipulated into fighting among ourselves, while the wealthiest among us have laughed all the way to the bank.

A vote for Rob Rowen is a vote for your future; a fair and level playing field, a representative who will fight to make sure that rural California has a seat at the table so that our children can live and work in the place they love and call home.